Refrigerator



Jan. -1 1, 1938.

E. J. ANDERSON 2,104,845

REFRIGERATOR Filed Oct 2, 1936 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 ing.

Patented Jan. 11, 1938 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE REFRIGERATOR Edwin J. Anderson, Snyder, Tex. Application October 2, 1936, Serial No, 103,761

7 Claims.

The invention relates to refrigerators, particularly ofthe household type, and has for its object to provide a device of this character wherein the coil for the reception of the freezing pans are disposed in the upper end of the chamber and extending across the upper end of the chamber above the refrigerator door, and in registry with closure means above the refrigerator door whereby access may be had to the ice trays'within the coil without opening the main refrigerator door and allowing escape of cold air which is now the difiiculty with'ice boxes wherein it is necessary to open the main door to remove trays from the coil.

A further object is to provide a drip pan below the trays and supported in a drain rack in a position whereby drainage from the coil will flow into the drip pan.

'A further object is to provide means whereby the coil and freezing pans are disposed in registry with independent doors above the main door and the drip pan is supported by a drain board and in a position where. it can be reached for removal purposes through the main door open- A further object is to form the drip pan from inwardly inclined channeled drain members, discharging inwardly into the drip and drain pan and being spaced so that the pan and drain members will not interfere with the fall of cold air or the passage or rush of heat units from the food compartment to the coil as the gas rapidly expands in the coil.

A further object is to form the drain member from spaced channeled bars in superimposed stepped inverted relation whereby fluid in the .upper channeled members will be deflected into the lower channeled members and discharged into the drip pan.

A further object is to suspend the drip pan between the drain members and to provide the drain members with lips extending downwardly and overlying the drip pan so that fluid will be discharged into the drip pan.

A further object is to provide a refrigerator with a cooling coil unit for the reception of freezing trays, and to position said 0611 and unit with its trays where they can be removed from the refrigerator through auxiliary opening having closure means other than the main door of the refrigerator.

With the above and other objects in view the invention resides in the combination and arrangement -of parts as hereinafter set forth, shown in the drawings, described and claimed,

it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the drawings: 5

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a conventional form of refrigerator, showing the device applied thereto.

Figure 2 is a front elevation of the upper end of the refrigerator, showing the auxiliary doors 10 open.

Figure 3 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view through the upper end of the refrigerator.

Figure 4 is an enlarged vertical longitudinal sectional view through one end of the drain pan. Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view through the refrigerator, taken on line 55 of Figure 1 and showing the drain pan in top elevation.

Figure 6 is a perspective view of the drip pan and the adjacent portion of one of the drain pan 20 sections.

Figure 7 is a transverse sectional view taken on line 1-1 of Figure 6.

Referring to the drawings, the numeral l designates the casing of a conventional form of refrigerator and 2 the main door thereof, which is open for access to the food compartment 3 of the refrigerator; all of which is conventional construction. The chamber 3 extends upwardly into the upper end of the casing I, and disposed 30 in this upper portion 4 is a relatively fiat compact horizontally disposed coil 5, through which gas passes in the usual manner and is expanded for absorbing heat units from the food compartment 3, and conveying them to gas compression 5 and heat dissipating means, which may be of any construction.

It has been found that when refrigerator doors 2 are opened for obtaining ice from trays, or frozen foods from the trays, the cold air in the food compartment 3 falls and the temperature materially rises in the compartment.

To obviate the above difliculty the casing l adjacent its upper end above the door 2 is provided with doors 6 normally closing openings I in registration with the coil 5 and the freezing pans 8 therein, therefore it will be seen when it is desired to remove any of the pans 8, it will only be necessary to open one or both of the doors 6. Two doors are provided to reduce the amount of opening and consequent rush of heat units to the coil from the atmosphere of the room, which would be the case if a single long door were provided. In use ice cubes may be formed in some of the freezing trays 8, while the other trays may be used for frozen dessert. In this way the dessert may be on one side in registry with one of the door openings 1 and the ice on the other. will be noted that in reaching or replacing any of the freezing trays 8, it will not be necessary to open the main door 2.

Disposed below the coil 5 is a drain tray 9, which comprises sections l0, which incline downwardly and inwardly and discharge into a removable drip pan ll suspended therebetween; Each section III of the drip tray 9 is formed from a plurality of superimposed courses of channeled bars l2 and I3. The channels of the courses I2 are inverted and are in spaced relation, thereby forming air passages l4 between the channels, and at the same time positioning the flanges l2a so that water, for instance during a defrosting operation, will drain into the channels |3a and from the channels l3a inwardly towards the center of the drain tray onto the downwardly and inwardly curved flanges l5, and into the suspended drip pan II. It will be noted that the channeled members, forming the course l3, are spaced, thereby forming air passes l6 so that the heat units may pass upwardly to be absorbed by the coil 5, and at the same there may be a circulation within the refrigerator.

The flange I5 is secured by welding or soldering at H to the under sides of the channeled members forming the course l3, however it may be secured in any other manner. Welded or otherwise secured to the upper edges of the upper channeled members at l8 are U-shaped members IS, the arms 20 of which extend downwardly, and are connected together by cross bars 2|, thereby forming supporting means for the drip pan II, as well as supporting means for the upper channel courses I2. Arms 20 are soldered at 22 to the sides of the channel courses, hence it will be seen that a rigid structure is formed. The outer ends of the lower courses of channels are connected together by a flange 23, which is soldered at 24 to the outer ends of the channels of the courses l2, therefore it will be seen that the channels will be held in spaced relation.

Each section III, at its outer end, terminates in a flange 25 having an air passage '26 therethrough and apertures 27, which receive the angular-1y shaped supporting lugs 28 carried by the inner walls of the refrigerator. It will be noted that the drain tray 9 is narrower than the compartment, thereby allowing passage of air. around the drain tray, adjacent the door and at the back of the refrigerator, and at the same time allowing the drain tray to be passed upwardly to position by positioning it adjacent the door and moving the same upwardly until the supporting lugs 21 pass through the notches 29 carried by the flanges 25, and to be moved laterally so that the angular lugs 28 will be received in the apertures 21.

By referring to Figure 1, it will be noted that the suspended drip pan l I is below the upper end of the main door opening 211 where it can be reached and removed at will, and at the same time it is well above the upper food shelf 30.

In Figure 5, is shown, in dotted lines, the outline of the coil in its relation to the drain tray 9, so that all the drippings therefrom will either fall on the drain tray or into the drip pan II.

From the above it will be seen that arefrigerator is provided wherein it will not be necessary to open the main refrigerator door when access is desired to the freezing trays within the freezing coil. It will also be seen that the arrangement is compact, thereby increasing the size of the food compartment and capacity of the refrigerator, and that the coil is horizontally disposed and extended above the drain tray, which is relatively high in relation to the main door opening.

The invention having been set forth'what is claimed as new and useful is:

1. In a refrigerator, the combination with a casing having a cooling coil therein for the reception of freezing trays, of -a drain tray beneath the coil and extending entirely across the refrigerator chamber, said drain tray comprising downwardly and inwardly inclined converging sections, said sections supporting in a suspended relation beneath their converging ends a drip pan, means whereby drainage from the sections will be discharged into the drip pan between the sections.

2. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the drip pan sections are formed from spacedchanneled members through which fluid passes to the drip pan.

3. A device as set forth in claim 1 wherein the drain tray sections are formed from a plurality of staggered alternately inverted channeled members in superimposed courses'whereby air passages are formed between the channeled members and the drainage is deflected into the lower courses of channeled members.

4. In a refrigerator, the combination with a casing having a tray receiving coil therein, or a drainage tray beneath the coil, said drainage tray comprising downwardly and inwardly inclined converging tray sections formed fromchanneled members, said channeled members of each section being in courses and each course in opposed relation with their units overlapping whereby circuitous air passages are-formed through the tray sections and drainage will be collected in the channels of the lower courses and flow inwardly and a drip pan between and suspended below-the inner ends of the sections and into which the drainage is discharged.

5. A device-as set forth in claim 4 wherein the lower courses at their inner ends terminate in deflecting flanges overlying the drip pan. 6. A device as set forth in claim 4 including U-shaped brackets connecting the parts of the inner ends of the drain tray sections and having their arms downwardly disposed, said arms being connected together and forming supporting means for the drip tray.

'7. The combination with a refrigerator casing having a main food compartment therein, a main door whereby access may be had to said main food compartment, a cooling coil within the compartment above the door means,- freezing trays carried by said coil, of closure means above the main door and positioned whereby access may be had to said trays and coil by opening said closure means without opening the closure means to the food compartment, a drain tray beneath the coil and above the main door, said drain tray comprising downwardly and inwardly inclined converging sections terminating adjacent each other and a drip pan supportedby the drain' tray in a position whereby it may be reached and removed through the main door opening of the refrigerator.

EDWIN J. ANDERSON. 

